NEW EQUIPMENT

[adrian]

Hi Nico,

Received my new lens, flash & filters the other day; Cannon 24-70mm f2.8L USM, Canon 580 EXII and Hoya filter pack. I went out shooting yesterday and quite frankly, I'm disappointed with the results.

Took many shots at the Al Kor harbour in manual mode with the new lens and UV filter; experimented with various f-stop settings and everything seems to be slightly overexposed. This became apparent after viewing the shots in PS Elements and making the various corrections whereafter the pasty white sheen disappeared. Even the simple "Auto Correct" in MS Office Picture Manager makes a difference!

Perhaps my expectations are too high, but I was hoping for crisp, clear shots with good colour which I'm not getting. I don't want to blame the equipment for the deficiencies of the photographer, but I'm at a bit of a loss here ... any thoughts and/or suggestions?

Thanks.

[VatiKaki]

Hey Adrian,

It is a bit hard to tell without seeing the pics and knowing what settings you used. Shooting overexposed in manual mode is rare - most people have a problem with underexposure.

Did you use ISO200/400 or more pehaps? What was the f-stop (larger aperture could cause easier overexposure than longer shutter-speed). Your metering method could also have been fooling the camera's light-meter to overexpose, i.e. it was a bit dark and the light-meter over-compensated and showed you a correct exposure while there was actually too much light.

My guess for 'pasty white' would be ISO. If you used a high ISO this would be a typical result.

Let me know your camera settings and the time of day you took your shots. Don't worry - the equipment you bought is first class and you will be shooting like a pro in no time!

[adrian]

Groete Nico,

As you say, without the actual shots to refer to, it's impossible for you to pass comment. Pity the files are so large otherwise I'd email one or two.

To answer your questions:
It was around lunchtime and a normal sunny day, so I used the lowest ISO setting of 200. I used manual mode at various f-stop settings, but always adjusted the shutter speed bring the exposure meter to the center point. I used the standard evaluative metering method.

I am happy with my equipment, but have serious reservations about this 'pro' term you refer to!

Cheers.

[VatiKaki]

Adrian,

Email me one of the pics at full size to vatikaki1@gmail.com and I will have a look at it. Another thing to keep in mind is that the UV filter will not remove any haze (usually caused by humidity and/or dust), which may also make your images appear dull. A normal polarizing filter will help with that but is unlikely to remove all of it.

Something else to keep in mind - images directly from the camera are never as 'vibrant' as the ones you see in magazines. You always need to do a little bit of post processing to make the colours 'pop'. Remember that the post-processing is not to fix bad pictures, it is to improve good ones. The most important aspect is to capture your image properly, i.e. the correct exposure (remember to check the histogram), focus where you meant it to be, and good composition. If the photo looks a bit dull on the camera or computer screen and you need to adjust contrast and saturation to jazz it up a bit, there is nothing wrong with that.

When you go to SA and capture some images there with blue skies and vivid colours surrounding your, your images will automatically look much better. This place is not the best for landscape photography...

It is also possible to modify the post-capture adjustments on your camera (I think it is called something like 'Picture Style' on the Canon). With these settings you can tell the camera how much to boost things like sharpness and contrast, and you should be able to define your own style and save it in the camera. I find it easier to just spend a couple of minutes in Photoshop and do whatever is required to make the image look good.

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